swatkat

Why is it that both shows of my heart (Fringe*and The Good Wife) have so little in the name of discussion on the internets, flist? My soul craves meta—aches for it, and all I get is Tumblr picspams. In my desperation I have taken to reading the TGW TWOP forums, which are surprisingly fun and full of interesting discussion. The Alienation of Affection thread is here, and the Bitcoin for Dummies thread is here—if you're looking for some insightful discussion and speculation (especially on the Wendy Scott Carr plot, which, frankly, is beyond me, I'm happy to watch it as it comes), you should definitely read these.

*I am yet to watch the last two episodes of Fringe, shh don't tell me what happened.


( spoilers up to 3.13 )

I was re-reading Batgirl #24, and god, I hope someday I'm able to revisit this series without getting a little teary-eyed because this was, for about the course of the fifteen months or so when I followed the title every month, my #1 pick-me-up, the one thing that never failed to cheer me up. I do not know how Stephanie Brown replaced Barbara Gordon as the Batgirl of my heart, except that I now think of the DCnU and realise that Barbara's Robin is now Damian, and a part of my heart just shrivels up and dies.

It is a difficult time to be a Bat-fan, in some ways—Snyder's Batman might be on fire, but for those of us who had fallen in love with a particular set of characters and relationships in a status quo that was never going to last (I realise now, reboot or no), and who are, perhaps, less used to reboots/cancellations/resurrections the way long-term comics fans undoubtedly are, the Batverse doesn't feel like our Batverse anymore. Barbara's Robin is Damian and Damian's Batman is Bruce and Stephanie and Cassandra are god knows where, and that is very, very painful. Equally painful is the knowledge the Black Canary and Oracle, as I knew them, were probably never friends that way, or that Huntress, as I knew her, no longer exists. It's only the end if you want it to be notwithstanding, fandom is hard.

It's also a difficult time to be a Barbara fan, in some ways—because I am, Barbara's girl through and through, and even the loss of Oracle won't change that, even if I despair over how much they have erased along with it. Apart from Wonder Woman, Barbara is the only female character of the DCU to have any sort of legacy, and it isn't coincidental that both Diana and Barbara's legacy's have been severely affected in the DCnU—with the erasure of Donna Troy, with the seeming disappearance of Diana's supporting cast (even STRIFE—yes, I refer to her in ALLCAPS now—cannot make up for the loss of Phillipus or Artemis), with the erasure/benching of all the three women who wore the Batgirl suit after Barbara, with the re-writing of the history of the Birds of Prey (from what we've seen of it).

It was, therefore, a bit of a surprise when I finally picked up the new Birds of Prey and found myself enjoying it tremendously: ( spoilers till BoP #5 )

I will also admit to shamelessly shipping Dinah/Evelyn. The subtext is certainly there, and while I was earlier held back by my Babs/Dinah OTPness, I've now come to accept the fact that Barbara and Dinah as I knew them don't exist anymore. (This is not to say I won't ship Babs and Dinah once more once we get to know these characters a little better, note.)

Wonder Woman, of course, has been an utter joy—despite my various misgivings, I've enjoyed the title thoroughly. ( spoilers for Wonder Woman #5 )

PS: DIANA'S GUN SHOOTS LOVE BULLETS, YOUR ARGUMENTS ARE INVALID.

I'm not sure I'm going to finish reading the Huntress mini right now. I thought I was reading about my Huntress, and I wasn't—I feel a little cheated to be honest. This will, of course, change if the new book is good and I grow to like Helena Wayne, but right now I need some time to mourn the Huntress I loved.

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netgirl_y2k has written fabulous DVD commentaries of Like a Fish Needs a Bicycle (Morgana/many female characters) and Walk Softly and Carry a Large Stick (Cara/Kahlan), with wonderful insights into the characters that you should run to read right now. Or read the stories first, if you haven't already.

High D'Haran Love Poetry by nike_ravus (Legend of the Seeker, Berdine/Raina): This is not a pairing I normally read, because I don't care about the bookverse and I don't know the characters at all, but the writer introduces them as 'their TV-show version incarnations. These are the girls who would hang out with our Cara and (sometimes) put up with her shit', which is really all I needed to know. At 20K words, it's a sharp, intriguing - and at times disconcerting - look at the world of the Mord'Sith, and a consideration of the eternal problem: "How do Mord'Sith fall in love? No really, how?" Read this right now, and go shower your love upon the author so that she writes more stories in this fandom.

I still think the new default comment page is ugly and comes with a lot of user issues, which means I'm not going to consider renewing my paid account until I see a response from LJ's side. This however means that the comment page on my LJ, as of now, will be the new comment page, which, I'm told, has been triggering headaches for some people - something about the bright blue on white. I'm not turning off comments on LJ, but if you're perhaps in danger of getting a headache, you can comment on DW instead (the link is on the bottom of every LJ post, since I crosspost and will continue to do so).

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Meanwhile, comics. ( spoilers for Batman: Leviathan Strikes and Wonder Woman #4; there is a gif under the cut among other images )

Nightwing #4 was rather unimpressive, despite Babs' presence: I don't know any 'Richard' Grayson, sorry, unless it's someone like Diana calling him Richard. I think I'm ready to pick up Birds of Prey now though - Babs is back and Dinah is still Dinah (even with a new girlfriend), and I've only been hearing good things about the book.

+ This is Bridget Regan on Person of Interest. You're welcome. (favouriteyear pointed me to it - I haven't actually seen the episode, but I am tempted).

+ This is the preview for Batman: Leviathan Strikes. It... appears to be set in pre-Flashpoint DCU. But Steph is Spoiler. Wut?

This, meanwhile, is the preview for Wonder Woman #4. Strife is my very favourite. I want her to stay forever and ever and be the Loki to Diana's Thor. Seriously, her EXPRESSIONS, and Diana's responses - Cliff Chiang is a god amongst men (he's also clearly having fun with his rockstar!Diana headcanon): ( image under cut )

WHY IS IT NOT WONDER WOMAN TIME YET

(It feels strange, being excited about a Wonder Woman issue. Strange, and awesome.)

Today my father demanded that I arm-wrestle with him. It's a part of his physiotherapy, apparently.

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I have caught up on Fringe. I was trying not to, because the next episode is TOO FAR AWAY and I HATE CLIFFHANGERS, but then I was missing Olivia's face a lot. ( spoilers till 4.07 )

There's a reason why The Good Wife is (on most days - and alongside Fringe, of course) the show of my heart. It just is consistently good, and manages to make me care for each and every member of the ensemble cast (almost as well as BSG - or perhaps better, because for a very long time in the course of BSG I wanted Lee Adama to shut up and for Baltar to be thrown out of the airlock, whereas I don't really mind Zach and Grace). And then there's ( TGW 3.10 Parenting Made Easy )

( Glee 3.07 I Kissed A Girl )

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I'm up late, but still failing to get any work done. I should probably sleep. Here, listen to the song I've been playing obsessively on repeat for the last couple of days:

( embed under cut )

This fine, fine manip of pirate!Cara on Tumblr reminded me of this:

( In which Kahlan is not a blushing maiden. this is too short a snippet to require a rating I think )

Someday I will write this story.

I ran away to the hills last weekend. There was a lot of food and no work, plus a lot of self-indulgent photography. Why do I have to go back to work why? /whine

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I have watched three episodes of Mawaru Penguindrum, and while it's quite enjoyable (and disturbing, which is to be expected) so far, the transformation sequence is not as epic as Utena's:

( embed under cut )

I feel like my life could use some dramatic transformation sequences. Catching the metro? ZETTAI! UNMEI! MOKUSHIROKU! Going for class? ZETTAI! UNMEI! MOKUSHIROKU! Complete with a sword and a sparkly uniform. Anyone caught talking in class can TALK TO THE SWORD.

When I told zorana84 the same thing she said she would rather transform into a car, which is also quite awesome I suppose, but A SWORD is just so much better, if slightly impractical.

Sometimes I feel like I should cultivate more gravity, act in a more srs bzns fashion - if nothing, it might stop me being mistaken as one of my students. I'm not sure if I'm built that way, however - sometimes I suspect I'm fundamentally incapable of being serious.

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Both Stormwatch #2 and Demon Knights #2 were ridiculously fun, if a little confusing in terms of plot. I liked in the inner squabbling going on in Stormwatch, and Midnighter shamelessly hitting on Apollo, and Demon Knights is just fun. It has swords, sorcery, dragons and female characters, and the Shining Knight may have just convinced me to read Morrison's Seven Soldiers (what? I like crossdressing female characters).

Meanwhile, on The Good Wife, ( TGW 3.04 )